I Kiss You In A Way You'll Never Forget About Me
by Mac-alicious
Summary: "Love bites," she says with a smirk, twisting her blonde curls around her finger, "but so do I." / / Lucaya, AU/College fic. Oneshot.


**A/N:** AU is not my usual thing, like full on, totally canon divergent, but there are parts that I really enjoyed writing, so I guess we'll see how it works out. The idea is that Lucas didn't move from Texas until the middle of high school and either ended up at a different high school than the girls or somehow never crossed paths with them, so instead he meets them in college. It's loosely based on a couple lyrics from the Halestorm song "Love Bites (So Do I)", the inspiration can bee seen in the title, and a line of dialogue from the first section of the story. It's a giant one shot, at least in terms of what I usually write. Enjoy! R &R! Thanks! ~Mac

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own GMW, or "Love Bites (So Do I)"

 **I Kiss You In A Way You'll Never Forget About Me**

Lucas has this post breakup ritual, which is funny in itself because he's only actually had one other girlfriend that was serious enough to even require a breakup before this one. So, semantics, but it only takes one repeat performance to make a tradition.

The first time he got dumped, it was like a bucket of ice water was poured over his entire life. She was his first love, or at least what he thought was love at thirteen-fourteen. He has always been vaguely aware that he's sort of good looking. It's not a matter of conceit—he has been a lot of other things too, a varsity athlete, an honor roll student, all of which makes him sound even more conceited, so he'll leave it at that. The thing is, he only knows that because he's always had girls chasing him, even back then. But that first time, he chose her. Out of all of them, she made him smile and warm up at her touch—and he thought that was love. He thought so until just shy of a year together she decided it wasn't. In that moment, he felt like everything he thought about the world was a lie. It decimated his self esteem. He was convinced that he was never going to find that again. If the greatest girl around didn't want him, he figured no one else would either. So, after his first breakup, he gave himself four days to wallow in self pity—an arbitrary number, because she dumped him on a Monday morning before school and there were four days between him and the weekend. Then he went out and spent the next three days flirting his way through every social situation he encountered. He told himself that, if he reached Monday without some inkling of a potential romance, he would resign himself to the fact that his love life had peaked and he would live his life sad and lonely. He never had to resort to that though, because before Friday night was over he had the numbers of at least three girls and by Saturday he had a date lined up with another beauty in cowboy boots. While he wouldn't find himself in another serious relationship until after he left Texas behind, that little ritual boosted his confidence again and dates were not in short supply after that. He proved to himself that he would not live a loveless life.

Now Lucas has grown up enough to know that the first time wasn't love, not really. It was mild infatuation, maybe, because she was pretty, combined with heightened sexual attraction symptomatic of the hormonal realignment of puberty. He also knows that _this time_ isn't about love either, at least not about any love he had for his most recent ex-girlfriend, but that didn't stop him from going through with his little ritual now that this relationship is over.

When he moved to New York for the second half of high school, finding romance was the farthest thing from his mind. He had things from his past that he struggled to keep there. He missed the wide open fields and the luxury of being able to see the stars at night. He was unsettled in his skin, trying to find home on crowded subway platforms, in the shadows of skyscrapers and under a curtain of light pollution that blocked out the sky he loved in a way that was suffocating. He wasn't looking for a relationship, when he wasn't yet done looking for himself, but he found one anyway. In hindsight, he wasn't sure how he let himself get caught in her net. She pulled him in, tied to him up and wouldn't let him go. So, no, he hadn't been in love. He felt like he was trapped for ninety percent of their relationship. Missy was something of a bitch, especially near the end there, and he was kind of relieved when it was over, but she made getting free of it as difficult as possible. She spent a month whiny and crying, because they had been together for a year and a half by the time they were graduating high school and she was convinced that he wouldn't fight for her if she tried to leave him. He was already tired of trying at that point, so he confirmed her fears, thinking they could call it quits and be done with it. Instead, it had only made her claw into him further, clinging to him with a desperation that made him feel guilty, through the summer. Then autumn rolled around and they immersed themselves into college life. Two weeks into the semester she decided they were too old to play pretend and dumped him in favor of her other boyfriend, the one she had been seeing behind his back for upwards of six months. And, no, that particular time line was not lost on him. She had made it hard to leave, but staying hadn't been a cake walk either. Finding himself unshackled by a relationship that had never made it past mutual attraction and minimal fondness on the great spectrum of love should have brought him back to life. It should have re energized him to be rid of the thing that had been sucking the spirit out of him for close to two years. Instead, he felt even more drained than ever. He was worried, because if a relationship that wasn't love could be that exhausting, then what would the real deal end up doing to him?

Lucas started to wonder if it would even be worth it. Maybe he doesn't even want to try anymore. Maybe he doesn't want love at all. Maybe he'll be better off without it. So, he feels a little jaded, which isn't exactly fair to people who've had it worse in that area. He takes his four days of negativity, rages and mopes about his dorm room. He almost breaks his laptop when he sees pictures of her and her new chump start to crop up across her social media accounts. He's thankful that, at the very least, he had never met the guy even in the lengthy overlap when they had been seeing the same girl—a fact further evidenced by some of the older time stamped pictures that coincided with the gaps of time he didn't see Missy the past half of a year. The looming negativity threatens to overwhelm him, so he decides that the second half of his ritual is necessary. If not to prove that there's love out there for him, then to convince the cynical side of himself that he actually wants more than a solitary existence. So, he puts a lid on all of his pessimistic emotions and promises himself that he'll take every social opportunity offered to him, in hopes of dragging himself out of this pit of indifference he's been dropped in, before he swears off women entirely. That's his motivation behind agreeing to check out the "mixer" being put on for their dorm building, an event he had scoffed at pre-breakup because it felt like a step backwards—a high school party full of college students instead of the opposite. Post-breakup, he'll take what he can get.

His roommate ditches him as soon as they're through the door. For all the coaxing the guy did to get Lucas to go with him, he has baser intentions on his mind as he makes a beeline toward a group of girls lingering in one corner of the room. Lucas turns in the opposite direction, heading first to the refreshments table. He has a task at hand, but he's going to pace himself. An RA had them fill out a name tag on the way in. Although it makes him feel silly to do it, he fixes it to his shirt now as he approached the table of vending machine snacks and sodas. He pushes aside some small bag of chips, trying to find something he might like enough to eat, and ends up crinkling his nose at all the varieties. He takes a soda instead, but doesn't pop it open. He stares at it blankly for a moment, as he questions why he's even there. He should wait until someone has a line on a real party, where people are looking for more than a tally of partial acquaintances and where he could get his hands on something stronger than a room temperature Coca Cola to jump start his night. He is in the middle of contemplating the urge to put down the coke and walk back out when a silvery voice washes over him.

"You have sad eyes."

Lucas glances up at the sound of it, finding a small slip of a girl tucked in and perched upon the edge of a half wall to his left. She is framed by wild blonde curls and clutches an identical soda between her delicate fingers. She's watching him with clear, curious interest shining in her eyes. Lucas isn't sure how he hadn't seen her first on his way over.

"Is that so?" Lucas asks. He's intrigued, but doesn't betray his peaked interest by straying any closer than where he's planted himself.

She nods. "I would know. I see a pair staring back at me every morning."

"Boyfriend?" he muses.

Her expression sours for a split second, long enough for him to realize he unintentionally struck a raw cord, before her air of sarcasm surrounds her again. "Nah. It's called a mirror."

Lucas takes a couple steps closer to her, his eyes searching for something kindred in hers the whole way. He doesn't find what he's looking for, but perhaps she's better at hiding it than he is. That suggests that her demons run far deeper than his do. It should be a warning to steer clear, but it only draws him in closer. He tries to locate her name tag next, because he doesn't want to be awkward and ask her name when their conversation started out with trading remarks on their shared emotional state. He finds the edges of it, stuck to one thigh, but it's obscured by the way she has her legs crossed. She'll have to change positions eventually.

"You're not from around here, are you, Sundance?" her voice takes on a familiar lilt to his still present accent.

"I've been from around here for a couple years now," he corrects. "But, no, I was not born and bred here, as I imagine you were."

She shrugs her shoulders, but it's a confirmation. "I bet you've retained your southern charm anyway. Girls probably swoon over it."

"Not all of them," Lucas's jaw clenches and he turns his soda can around in his hand.

"Mmm," she hums, uncrosses her legs and leans as far forward as she can without tipping out of her perch. "You've been put through the wringer recently."

Lucas arches his neck just enough to get an angle where he can now read the curly script on the name tag that reads, _Penelope Clutterbucket._ Suddenly, his day is all that much better. He clears his throat as her words bring Missy back to the front of his mind. He shakes his ex back out of his head. He doesn't want her there, especially when the whole point, of being at this ridiculous excuse for a "party," is to eradicate that experience from his memory. So, he trails his eyes back up to meet those of this, apparently, Miss Clutterbucket, and smiles slightly.

"I wager you have to," he says. "It takes one to know one, and all that."

"Perhaps," she says with another shrug. "Let me guess, she cheated on you with your brother?"

"Only child," Lucas shakes his head.

"She cheated on you with your _best friend?_ "

"The closest thing I have to a best friend is currently about two thousand miles away back in Texas, so that would be a feat," Lucas almost laughs. "I might have actually admired her for the effort involved if that was the case."

One hand pushes blonde hair out of her face, before she tries again. "She cheated on you with a _girl_? I hear college _is_ a time for experimentation."

"No, she was not quite so interesting," This time Lucas does laugh, because, in less than five minutes, this girl has shifted his perspective on his situation. It's trivial in the grand spectrum of romantic tragedies, and he can finally treat it that way. "She was just seeing another guy for six months of our relationship."

"How boring."

"What about you?" Lucas raises an eyebrow. "How are you so casual about these things?"

"I've come to a conclusion."

"What's that?"

"Love bites," she says with a smirk, twisting her blonde curls around her finger, "but so do I."

His mama has always told him a smirk like that was dangerous. A smirk like that can lead you straight to the fires of damnation. But his mama ain't here, and he can feel the lick of flames on his skin already. It's a welcome change to the freezing chill that's surrounded him since Missy walked into, and straight back out of, his life. He thinks, maybe, he could get used to it. He's tempted to move closer, to see how far he can take this before he ends up burned, but he doesn't have to because the next second, she slips down from her perch. She sidles up to him and pats a hand on his chest, right over his name tag. He feels her touch to the center of his chest, in the beat of his heart and the pull of his lungs.

"So, Mr. Cowboy," she grins up at him. "What brings you to this fine shindig all by your lonesome?"

"I was lured here by my roommate with the promise of fun and companionship, but he abandoned me at the door to _mingle_ ," Lucas shrugs. "Which is probably for the best, because I'd like to keep up the illusion that I'm rooming with a cool guy, and I don't think I'd be able to if I had to see him be rejected by every girl in our building. Also, now I get to talk to you, a pretty young lady, who appears to be alone herself."

"I am also here with my roommate if you'll believe it. She's around..." She glances back and forth, " _somewhere._ She's probably one of the girls rejecting your boy right now."

"Can't blame him for trying," Lucas says.

"You can't get anywhere without taking that first step," she agrees, taking a single step closer to him in time with her words. It brought her almost pressed against him and she had to crane her neck a little further to look up at him. "Is that the only reason you're here?"

This girl is too forward. She is asking him questions he wouldn't answer for his best friends, but somehow getting him to spill his guts out anyway—a matter made even more troublesome by the fact that he actually likes the freedom involved with getting that weight off his chest. She's standing too close, literally backing him into a corner. If he knows what's best for himself, he'll walk away right now before another word leaves his mouth. But something tells him it's already too late for that and he proves that to himself when the next sentence spills out before he can think it through. She has him; he doesn't mind so much.

"It's something I do after a breakup," Lucas says.

"What? Rebound hard?" she replies.

"To prove that I can."

She laughs and as soon as she stops, he wants to make her do it again. It's a delightful sound, like the soft music of a bird's song. It's crazy, but he can't remember one time when Missy's laugh affected him so. He can't remember a single time Missy _laughed._ He's in over his head.

"With a face like that, I don't believe you've _ever_ had trouble in that area," she says. She pats her hand on his chest once more and turns away from him. She's several steps away from him before she glances back, rolls her eyes, and gestures for him to follow her. "Well, come on."

Lucas shakes off whatever hesitation he has left and takes the few strides to join her. As soon as he's close enough, she takes his hand and starts to pull him through the room. He follows her without resistance, but asks, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," she answers. "Unrelated, which room is yours?"

"Five E," Lucas says.

"No, really?" she slows for a second and meets his eyes over here shoulder. "I'm in four E. I'm directly below you."

"What are the odds?"

"I mean, not as slim as you would imagine, but," she starts to move at her previous brisk pace, "that's a fun coincidence."

It makes him feel a little slow, but he doesn't realize what their destination probably is until they've left the mixer behind, found their way into the stairway and traveled up a couple flights. If he thought she was too forward before, they are so far beyond that now. But is he complaining? No, she would not see him complaining about anything, except maybe the fact that she hadn't chosen the elevator as their mode of travel, because, despite being an athlete in precise shape, his breathing is a little heavier by the time they've reached the landing between their floors. It might have a little more to do with anticipation than exertion, so he doesn't let it hurt his confidence. But, it certainly doesn't stop him from being slightly thankful when she stops before they can start up the next flight of stairs, turns back to him and smirks again. Lucas has a second to catch his breath before she gives him an entirely different reason to be out of breath.

Despite being practically a foot shorter than him, she is able to intimidate him backwards with every step closer she takes now. It might have something to do with the way her eyes are a shade darker than he remembered, or how she bites her lip as she looks up at him through her lashes. The why and how scarcely matter when she's giving off this predatory air. She doesn't stop her approach until his back is pressed against the wall. It all happens quickly. He barely has a moment to search her eyes for some hint of what's going to happen next, before she wraps her arms around him and kisses him like she can't help it. It takes him even less than that to fall into it.

Lucas wraps his arms around her waist, lifting her into the kiss. She proves her statement from earlier as she nips at his lips with her teeth and then soothes him with her tongue. He groans as she digs her fingers into his scalp and drags him closer. It seems like she might want to eat him alive, and he might just let her. This should be strange to him—that he's making out with a stranger, who may or may not be wearing a fake name tag, in the middle of a stairway where anyone can stumble upon them—but this already feels better than anything from his relationship with Missy. That's an accomplishment in itself, not because anything with his ex was even much of anything, but because he has found himself here mostly by accident and good fortune—not that he's the biggest fan of luck, chance or fate at the moment. Still, this girl feels right in his arms. She's seared herself onto him with record speed and precision. He thinks this might lead somewhere, if only back to his room for the night, once he has gotten enough of the taste of her mouth, but then the mood is shattered by the sound of a door slamming a couple floors down.

She breaks away form him, with her tongue already darting out to sweep across her lips. It makes him want to kiss her again. It makes him want to do so much more. "It was nice meeting you, Ranger Rick."

"My name is Lucas," he manages to say, even though his brain is fuzzy with images of potential futures that are slowly slipping through his fingertips.

"I know your name," she slides out of his embrace, still smirking. She pulls his name tag from his chest and bites it between her teeth for a second for him to see it. Then she sticks it to her shirt in a motion that draws his gaze straight to her breasts where they swell perfectly at her shirt's deep neckline. She knows exactly what she's doing, and he's pretty sure he knows nothing at all. She presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I never thought I'd like a Texas twang."

Before he can say a word in response, she flounces down the stairs away from him. He waits and listens for the sound of the door closing behind her as she leaves the stairway. Afterward, as he stands there with the silence pressing in around him and the sweet taste of her still on his tongue, he almost wishes that he had thought to get her number somewhere in the middle of their strange encounter. Then he realizes he doesn't need it. He knows where to find her. They practically live together. He considers the possibility that this kind of magic is meant to be fleeting, only able to exist in tragically brief moments and he wants to find her anyway.

…

…

Lucas has enough dignity and self control to wait a couple days before he tries to see her. He has it; he just doesn't utilize it. She swirls around in his head all night until the idea of not seeing her again is painful. His choice to bide his time and maybe accept that she might want it to be a one time thing holds out until the next morning, when he takes a detour on his route to the ground floor that lets him pass right by her door. It might be slightly delusional, but he sort of hopes that his timing will be so perfect that he'll run into her just as she's leaving her room and they can go on from there. He doesn't get that lucky on his first try. She's either comfortable inside, or already out of the dorm; he has no way to know which. Sure, it would be just as easy to knock on her door and find out, but he doesn't want to look too eager. So, he just keeps walking on by, catches the elevator on its next trip down and goes about his day as planned. He knows he should leave it at that. He's supposed to be recovering from a breakup, enjoying the single life, and focusing on school. Instead, he finds himself making up excuses to pass through the fourth floor at various times in the next few days and, despite the volume of his unnecessary trips past her door, he never once crosses paths with her in that time. He does think that, if he tries hard enough, he might be able to piece together a tentative schedule for her based entirely on the gaps of time when she isn't around. In the meantime, he keeps trying and catches a break in a way that is only slightly more embarrassing than knocking on the door and getting no answer while he awkwardly fidgeted in the hall would have been.

He learns that she has this friend, Riley, because it's the brunette that he ends up running into when she opens the door once when he is "passing by." It only takes a few minutes with Riley to see that she is all sunshine and daisies—one flower crown short of a breezy summer princess. In another life, he might have liked her too, liked her better, liked he first. But that's a dream, wrapped in a fantasy, capitalizing on a brand of happily ever after that is improbable. In this life, he likes the blonde better. Hell, if he's honest, he'd probably always like the blonde better. Although, it's definitely for the best that it's Riley that catches him at the worst possible second—the _one time_ he does more than slide by the door with a passing look, the _one time_ he lingers a moment too long in front of it. Riley swings the door open and he's framed in the doorway. Her appearance startles him, but she seems unfazed by him standing there.

"Hello," Riley says brightly. "Can I help you?"

"Um, yeah, I," Lucas gulps. "Is your roommate here?"

"Nope," Riley smiles as she pops the p.

"Oh, okay, well, I should—I don't want to bother you," Lucas starts to walk away, his hand already running over his face as he mentally chastises himself over his apparent stupidity.

Riley leans out of her room to call after him. "Her name is Maya by the way."

Lucas stops, turns on his heel and walks back to the doorway. "But her name tag—"

Riley nods and laughs lightly, mostly to herself. "Penelope is her middle name and Clutterbucket is an old family name. She thinks it's funny to confuse people. She doesn't fully understand the point of a mixer."

"That's a riot," Lucas deadpans.

"Hey, you must have enjoyed it or you wouldn't be stalking her."

"I'm not—"

Riley snorts and Lucas inwardly cringes. She's got something on him already.

"Okay, buddy, let's try this again. I'm Riley," she points at herself. "I'm Maya's best friend and her roommate. I have special permission to carry extra units, which means I'm practically never in my dorm, this moment notwithstanding. I'm in a perpetual state of transit. So, yesterday, on my way here, I watched you pace back and forth, eyeing our door, for twenty minutes, from down the hall."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Riley draws out the word, tilts her head as she grins widely and bats her eyes at him.

Lucas definitely likes this girl. She smiles too much and talks too fast, but he wants to tuck her under his arm—even though she's this lanky, wiry, clumsy stalk of a thing—and ruffle her hair. She could be his perfect little sister; he likes that. Talking to her is also the closest he's come to the girl he really wants to get to, so he's trying his damnedest not to screw this up.

"Okay, so I can explain," Lucas says.

"Please do," Riley folds her arms.

Lucas opens his mouth and there's nothing even remotely sane or true that he can say so he closes it again. "Okay, so I can't explain."

Riley laughs. "Give it a try. I promise not to judge."

"Fine," Lucas lets out a ragged breath. "So...we met at the mixer. I had just gotten dumped, rather unceremoniously, a few days before, so I was reeling from it. And she... _Maya_ ," he tests the name, likes it on his tongue, almost as much as he likes _her_ on his tongue. "She was there. And she has the kind of smirk my mama warned me about, and she called me Ranger Rick, and we made out in the stairway and she totally left me hanging. And I shouldn't like her, but..."

Riley nods. "Maya _does_ have that effect on people."

Lucas takes a deep breath and releases it as his whole body relaxes.

"Do you want to come in?" Riley asks.

Maybe it's a bad idea, but he does it anyway. "Sure."

As he follows Riley into the room, Lucas's eyes are drawn straight to the left side of the dorm, simply because that's the side that belongs to him. He gets the feeling that it's the side that belongs to Maya too—partially because it looks like the color purple threw up over everything on the right side and that just doesn't suit the girl he met the other night and partially because the first thing he sees is his name tag stuck to the desk on the left side. He takes a step toward it and runs a finger over it. The edges are already starting to curl up and he imagines Maya rubbing her own fingers across it over the past few days. It sends an inexplicable thrill down his spine.

"I take it you're Lucas," Riley says. She sits down on the edge of her bed, crosses her legs and watches him take in the room.

"Lucas Friar," he replies. He doesn't feel comfortable claiming a place in any part of the room, and Riley hasn't invited him to sit anyway, so he stays standing stiffly in the center of it.

"She's been calling you Huckleberry," Riley says.

Lucas's head shot up. "She's been talking about me?"

"Do you think I would have invited you in here if she hadn't?" Riley raises an eyebrow. "I figured it was about time I put you both out of your misery or I'd have to be dealing with this for the rest of the semester."

"And here I was thinking you were just being hospitable," Lucas says.

"To a stranger, in New York City?" Riley shakes her head. "Even _I'm_ not that nice."

"So," Lucas says after they sit in silence for a full minute, that he tracks in the ticking second hand on the—yes, _purple—_ wall clock above Riley's bed. "What has Maya said about me?"

Riley snickers. "As if I'd tell you."

"You won't give me anything?"

"That would be a violation of the strictest codes of confidence between best friends," Riley replies.

"And yet you invited me into her room," Lucas says. "That's not some kind of violation?"

"Technically, I invited you into _my_ room," Riley says. "She just so happens to share it with me."

"I'm sure she'll see it that way," Lucas says and Riley shrugs. He fixes the best charming smile he can manage in her direction. "You can't help a guy out?"

"You said you had some love troubles?" Riley asks, tapping her fingers on her knee.

"You could call it that." Lucas wouldn't call it that, but he'll humor her if it gets him somewhere.

"Well, Maya has had some of her own too," Riley says. "I'll leave it at that. You just have to understand that she's not easy. And I don't mean that the way it sounded. I mean, she's hard to crack. I've known her since we were little and I still haven't gotten past all of her defenses. Whatever you're looking for, stalking our doorway, you need to understand that."

"Sure," Lucas nods. "I get it."

"I think you could be good for her," Riley says. "Please don't prove me wrong."

Even though he's known her for less than an hour, Lucas really does not want to disappoint this sugary sweet girl with glitter in her eyes. Even more so, he doesn't want to let down the feisty blonde, with fire in her belly, who calls this sugar plum fairy her best friend. They're a pair, he can already tell, even without seeing them together, and he doesn't think he could handle failing either of them.

"I'll try my best," Lucas says. "That's a promise."

Riley smiles. "I think we're going to be great friends. If Maya doesn't kill me for bringing you in here first. I suppose we'll find out soon enough, because she's going to be here in, oh, I'd say, thirty seconds."

Whether it's just a plain and simple expertise on her roommate's precise schedule, she's able to sense her friend's imminent presence, or pure luck, Riley's prediction is spot on. Half a minute goes by, then there's a key in the lock and the door swings open to reveal the infamous "Penelope Clutterbucket." Lucas has a moment to take her in before she notices he's there, and he savors it. She somehow looks even better in her casual straight from class style than she did in her skin tight jeans and sexy swoop neckline. She's been on his mind, somewhat obsessively he'll admit, for days and he's created scenarios of how they could see each other again over and over in his head. This is not one of those potentialities, but it hardly matters now. Clearly, nothing would have prepared him for how seeing her, in the flesh, would make him feel.

When Maya finally looks up at him, her eyes light up with recognition, but, to her credit, she doesn't show any other indicators of shock or displeasure. Again, he wonders if it's because she's just good at burying it down where no one can see it. Whatever she really feels about his presence, she handles it with the casual humor that seems to be her trademark.

"I don't recall ordering a life sized Cowboy," Maya says as she closes the door and starts to dump her bags on her desk. "So he must be yours."

"You remember Lucas," Riley says, barely acknowledging her friend's attempt at wit.

"Vaguely," Maya meets Lucas's eyes and smirks in a way that she remembers far more than she claims.

"I found him stalking the halls outside our door," Riley says.

Lucas shoots her an incredulous look that makes her laugh.

"Hey, I said I wanted to help you out," Riley says. "Not that I would lie for you."

"She's exaggerating," Lucas says as he turns back to Maya. "She happened to open the door when I was standing in front of it, that's all."

"Uh-huh," Riley rolls her eyes. "That's because the odds of me opening the door when he was outside were entirely in my favor, considering that he's spent more time on our floor than he has on his own recently."

"Now it sounds like you're the one stalking me," Lucas says.

"I don't have to when you keep coming to me," Riley giggles and falls back onto her bed. She settles on her pillows and kicks up her feet. "He's all yours, Maya, but take him somewhere else, because I have work to do for my communications class. And I don't need anymore distractions regarding the two of you."

"Sure," Maya says as she stares Riley down and slowly approaches the bed. "That's the reason. You don't want me to have an excuse to clear out while you take your weekly Skype call with Farkle or anything. That's _not_ why you dragged Mr. Huckleberry into our room to surprise me. We're just keeping you from your school work that's all."

"I'm glad you know me so well, Peaches," Riley says, a smile forming as Maya draws near. "The same way I know, without you saying a word, that you've been staring at his name tag and hoping he'll come kno—"

Maya slaps a hand over Riley's mouth so that the rest of the sentence came out a muffled mess through her fingers. Still, she isn't quick enough for Lucas to not get the gist of what was said. Without much of another choice, Maya looks over her shoulder at Lucas, "Do you want to get a coffee?"

"I'd love to," Lucas smiles.

…

…

For reasons unknown to him, Maya leads Lucas past several perfectly good Starbucks locations to this cozy little coffee shop and bakery some distance from their dorm, that must be important for more than just its charm. When he sees the way the woman behind the counter greets Maya, he understands. He finds them an open table and she returns with two mugs of coffee. She slides his over to him and keeps hers clutched in her hands as she sits down across form him. They sip at their coffees in silence for a few minutes before Maya sighs and lets them start to have a conversation.

"You couldn't just let it be what it was, could you?" Maya says, pushing her half empty cup away from her and leaning back in her chair. "I knew you had that whole southern gentleman air about you from the second I saw you, but I didn't think you would try to make an honest woman of me afterward."

"I didn't intend to," Lucas replies. "I couldn't get you out of my head and you're the one who not so subtly gave me the means to track you down."

"That doesn't mean I expected you to do it," Maya says.

"And yet I did," Lucas says, "and here we are."

"Here we are," Maya agrees.

"And, _technically_ , you're the one that asked me out," Lucas grins. "So..."

"Whoa there, partner," Maya says. "This isn't a date."

"This can be whatever you want it to be," Lucas nods. "The point is, _you're_ the one who asked me here."

"Only after you conned your way into my room and my best friend's good graces," Maya countered.

"I was just wandering around, minding my own business. Riley was the one that muscled me into your room," Lucas says.

"Yes, I'm sure that twig overpowered _you_ and your—" Maya reaches over and pinches the muscles of one of Lucas's arms. She realizes what she's doing and drags her hand back to her lap.

"She disarmed me with the power of her personality," Lucas says, his lips turning upward. "Similar to the way you have."

"That's adorable," Maya says.

"Almost as adorable as it is that you kept my name tag from the other night," Lucas says. "Don't try to deny it. I've been in your room. I saw it."

Maya presses her lips together, but Lucas can see the ghost of a smile that's trying to emerge there.

"Let's just agree that we're both in a little over our heads right now," Lucas says, meeting her eyes across the table. "We couldn't have expected whatever it is, but," he says again, "here we are."

"Here we are," Maya repeats.

"Although, _you were_ the one who kissed me the other night, not the other way around," Lucas bears his teeth when he smiles this time.

"I was doing you a favor," Maya smirks in response.

"A _favor_? Is that what you call it?"

"Your girl turned you inside out, even if you weren't in love with her or planning your nuptials or how many of her babies you wanted to have," Maya says. "You needed someone to show you that one awful person was not the end all be all of your romantic existence. So I showed you."

Maya keeps her tone light and airy, matter-of-fact in the way she describes his situation, if only not to betray how much she commiserates with him. But as he watches her now, Lucas believes that he sees in her eyes what she saw in his eyes at the mixer. She hid it well before, but it's shining through the smallest of cracks now. She is a fragile thing wrapped in a tough exterior. One thing is for sure: love has done its damage to them both.

"It sounds like maybe you've been through the same thing yourself," Lucas says.

Maya stiffens and drops her gaze to the table. She takes up her mug again and busies herself with quite a few delicate and slow sips before she finally responds. "That's not an inaccurate assumption."

"It's not exactly an assumption," Lucas says.

"Riley," Maya mutters with a sigh. "What exactly did she tell you about me?"

"Next to nothing, other than that your name is not Penelope Clutterbucket," Lucas says, "and that you may have had some love troubles of your own."

"That's...actually somewhat restrained for Riley," Maya says. "She has this compulsive need to fix things for everyone. Sometimes it's heartwarming to know someone cares that much, and, _sometimes_ , it's the bane of my existence," She takes a deep breath and looks back up at Lucas. "Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised if she walked you through my life story complete with charts and diagrams."

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Lucas asks.

"That's not exactly a first date conversation," Maya says.

"So this is a date now?" Lucas raises an eyebrow.

"No," Maya shakes her head.

"Then, what's the problem?" Lucas says. "I told you my story before I even knew your real name."

"That's your business, Huckleberry," Maya says. "If you want to go around sharing your woes, you're welcome to, but I'm different. I don't make a habit of spilling my guts at every—"

" _Maya_ ," Lucas cuts her off.

Maya bites her lip. "Riley makes a bigger deal of it than it is."

"Okay," Lucas says.

"She has such high hopes for me that she takes it personally when something goes wrong in my life. She wants me to have a 'happily ever after' even if she has to manufacture it for me," Maya continues. She taps her fingers along the tabletop and watches them instead of looking at Lucas. "You're a part of that already, even if you don't know it yet. I've been out of sorts for months and kissing you the other night is the first thing I've done in a long time that didn't feel..." she trails off, searching for the word.

"Wrong?" Lucas supplies, because that's the way he would describe the scene from his side. It was the first thing in quite some time that didn't feel all wrong.

Maya's eyes shoot up to his. " _Yes_ , exactly."

Lucas nods. "It was the same for me."

"Riley thinks you're the solution," Maya says.

"The solution?"

"Well, technically that's Farkle's word for it, but Riley agrees. They are my two best friends and they mean the best, but they believe that because I kissed you, and stole your name tag and gave you, like, twelve ridiculous nicknames, if I keep you around, then I'll magically be better. I love them, but they're delusional. Even if seeing you made me feel good about myself, it wouldn't change what happened in the past. It won't take it away. It won't erase it," Maya says. "It doesn't stop them from interfering though."

"If my best friend was here," Lucas smiles as he thinks of Zay, back in Texas, with his big mouth and complete lack of filter, and he points to the empty chair next to him, "he'd be sitting right there, commentating on our conversation, reading into all the subtle nuances of our tone and body language, and slappin' me upside my head everytime I try to deflect or pretend I'm indifferent."

"I'm not entirely convinced Riley's not spaying on us right now," Maya says. "That window up there is a prime spying location. We've used it many times."

"She's invested."

"She feels responsible."

"Why?"

"Because my ex is her uncle," Maya answers with her voice soft and a little shaky.

Lucas frowns, the lines creasing deeply into his forehead.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Maya exclaims. "He's only three years older than us. He was a late life baby. It wasn't some weird, creepy, whatever you were thinking."

"Alright," Lucas says. "Did Riley set you two up or something? Is that why she feels responsible?"

"No, she feels responsible because I never would have met him if she wasn't related to him," Maya says. "I keep telling her there's nothing she could have done, especially since she didn't know we were in a relationship until after we had ended it."

"So, you dated Riley's uncle without anyone knowing," Lucas clarifies. "You're halfway there. You might as well tell me the rest."

"Fine, but I warn you, it's not as interesting of a story as it may seem," Maya says. She's quiet for a long moment, and he thinks it might be her way of avoiding it further, but she eventually launches right in. "Josh was good looking and older and I had a crush on him from the moment I laid eyes on him. For a long time it was a game between us, I tried to smother him with adoration and he reminded me that he was too old or me. I told him three measly years were no match for Maya Hart and he humored me. It was nothing more than that: a silly obsession, periodic infatuation, intense when he was around and tolerably dormant when he wasn't. But he was around more when I was in high school, because he had moved to the city for college. I spent so much time fawning over him, I fancied myself in love with him."

Lucas nods every so often to prompt her along and let her know that he's listening.

"He was always hung up on the age difference, especially when we were on opposite sides of eighteen. So, I waited. And waited. And waited," Maya smiles weakly. "Turns out I'm not all that great at waiting. I get antsy and kind of desperate and do rash things that I usually end up regretting later. I waited as long as I could, and then, on my eighteenth birthday, I got him alone, cornered him and kissed him. I had to see if there was anything to it. Riley had her princes. Josh was the closest thing to a dream guy as I had. I expected him to push me away, remind me that he was too old for me, and go back to treating me like a little kid, like his niece's best friend and nothing more."

"But he didn't," Lucas fills in. He knows this story goes nowhere good, so this Josh character feels sketchy from the start, but he can sort of empathize with the guy in this one instance. He knows what it's like to not be able to push this girl away, even when all logic dictates that he should. He barely knows her and all he wants to do is drag her closer.

"He did not," Maya nods. "He kissed me back, pulled me closer. In my head, the same one that was telling me that I was wrapped up with the love of my life, that reaction was tantamount to a declaration of love. Even though he had never given any other sign that he had any kind of feelings for me besides platonic affection, I was convinced by _one kiss_ that he had been hiding how he felt for all that time, that he fought it anyway he could so he could wait for the right moment: _that moment_. I thought it meant he was ready to admit that we were destined and from that moment on it would be smooth sailing to happily ever after. Turns out happily ever after is a thing only for Cory and Topanga."

"Who and a what?" Lucas frowns.

"Cory and Topanga," Maya waves a finger at a picture frame on a nearby bookshelf. It features a couple and a much younger Riley. "They're Riley's parents. All our lives, they've been this shining example of true love. They've been together practically forever. I wanted to be them, I wanted to have what they had, but there is only one Cory and Topanga. Even if there was another, Josh and I were decidedly not it. Maybe, for awhile, I thought we could be, but, I'm sure you can tell, I built it up in my head far bigger than it was in reality."

"He let you down."

"Yes, but really I let myself down," Maya sighs. "By being too blinded to see what was really happening. After I kissed him, Josh was charming and open and interested in me _, finally_. But he was concerned about what people would think, so we saw each other in secret. It was only supposed to be until my high school graduation. The plan was to tell everyone after the ceremony."

"Instead, he broke up with you," Lucas guesses.

Maya shakes her head. "In the end, I was the one who broke up with him, but he forced to me to it. Graduation came, and I was ready to tell everyone. Hiding it from Riley was excruciating, and, if for no other reason, I had to tell because I couldn't keep it from her anymore and I knew once she found out, everyone would. Josh was hesitant. I thought it was just nerves, but he wouldn't go through with it. He convinced me that he just needed a little more time—time to prepare, time to have me to himself. So we waited a couple days, thought we'd try again, but he wouldn't do it. A week went by and he wouldn't do it. A second week went by and he still wouldn't do it. Looking back now,, I feel so stupid that I let a whole month go by before I questioned any of it. Once I did, though, I knew it was over, that there was a good chance it never should have started. He liked me, he was attracted to me, but, all that time, he was humoring me, playing along with my fantasy so he wouldn't hurt me by rejecting me. It obviously did not turn out the way he wanted it to. I let him off the hook, because it may have helped me realize I was chasing the _idea_ of him more than _him_ , too."

"I'm sorry," Lucas says when the extended quiet signals that she's done with her story.

Maya shrugs and brings her walls back up. "Hey, I'm over it. I'm not the kind of person who goes around making out with other people when I'm still hung up on someone else. That would be—um—" she stutters to a stop as she sees the expression that grows on Lucas's face. She swallows and finishes her sentence "—a really shitty thing to do."

"I'm not hung up on my ex," Lucas replies. "I promise. There are things I've done that I'm not proud of. What happened between us is not one of them."

"Did you ever get the feeling that she wasn't being faithful, or was it a compete shock?" Maya asks. She observes him carefully, with her head tilted.

"To be honest, I probably missed all the signs. Toward the end, I didn't want to be there anymore. I cared so little that I probably would have ignored them if I did see them. So, even without any warning, I mostly felt relief, not shock," Lucas says. "Sure, I was pissed because she was cold and awful about it, but my mood at the mixer was more abut being upset with myself for not knowing how I got to where I was, for letting myself sink lower and lower until I was drowning with no hope of rescue. Then you came along."

"And I saved you?" Maya's voice is laced with sarcasm as she blinks at him.

"You woke me up," Lucas corrects. "You gave me what I needed to save myself. So, maybe you were right to call it a favor."

Maya's expression softens and all the sarcasm leaks out of her voice. "You may have done the same for me."

"So, maybe this _is_ the solution, for both of us," Lucas says.

"I would be willing to see where it goes," Maya responds. She slips down the last drops of her coffee and smiles as she pushes her mug away from her. "But you're definitely paying on the second date."

Lucas laughs, "So, this _is_ a date now."

"Of course it is, Cowboy. This was a date as soon as Riley lassoed you into our room. I don't let just anybody take me to coffee," Maya says. "What kind of girl do you take me for?"

Lucas takes her for the kind of girl who could shake his world to pieces with one look, one touch, one kiss, and leave him gathering them up to bring them right back to her, but it is neither the time nor place to say that out loud, so he keeps it to himself. It's going to be a wild ride for both of them, and he's going to love every second of it.

…

…

"She's going to fall in love with you," Riley tells Lucas one day, a few months into his relationship with Maya, in one of the rare moments that her best friend isn't attached to his side.

If Lucas wasn't at least half in love with her already, this might have freaked him out. With any other girl, this would have had him reevaluating what he's doing. Instead, he smiles, hugs Riley, and ruffles her hair the way he wanted to the first time he met her. A part of him saw this coming: the shift in the way Maya looks at him, touches him, kisses him. But to hear his wishful thinking confirmed from the person who knows Maya best, fills him with a swelling happiness that threatens to overwhelm him.

"That's what I'm hoping for," Lucas says.

Riley laughs and squirms out of his arms. Once free of him, she grows serious again. "You make her very happy and, even if she didn't, I would love you for it."

"She makes me very happy too," Lucas says, feeling the gravity in each of his words. They're such simple words, but what they say in the spaces between means so much more than he could ever convey.

A pair of arms circle his waist from behind, and then there is a pleasantly warm weight pressing into his back. "I hope you're talking about me."

Lucas lifts his arm and twists so he can pull Maya into his side without her having to release her hold on him. She rests her cheek against his chest as she looks up at him. He matches her smile before he dips down for a quick kiss. He pulls back but stays close as he whispers, "When am I ever talking about anyone else?"

Maya's smile widens and she reaches up a hand to press against the back of his neck, drawing him in for another, deeper kiss. They had gotten away with the first one, but this one forces Riley to clear her throat in an attempt to interrupt them. It does little to detour them, although they might tone it down a little for her benefit. Maya presses several soft, closed mouth kisses to Lucas's lips before she breaks away and turns to their friend.

Riley has he hands on her hips, even though there's a hint of a smile on her face. "Must you insist on doing that when I'm standing right here?"

"Yes," Maya says simply. "One of the reasons I keep him around is because I'm allowed to kiss him whenever I want to."

Lucas isn't going to argue with that.

"But right in front of me?" Riley says. "Is it necessary?"

"I'm sure Lucas would agree that it's always necessary, whether you're present or not," Maya says and Lucas makes a small noise of agreement. "Besides, you forfeited any right to complain when you chose to force us on each other."

"Me? Forced you onto—? Ooh," Riley narrows her eyes. "I don't seem to remember being present when you two were being all kissy kissy in a public stairway. That was all you two crazy kids."

Behind Maya's back, Lucas points at her and inclines his head in her direction as he mouths to Riley. "It was all her."

Maya pinches his side and he drops his hand. "You think I can't see you when you do that?"

Lucas laughs and hugs her tighter. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh," Maya rolls her eyes but allows him to embrace her fully, tucking her in to that spot in his arm where she feels like she was made to fit into. "You're skating on thin ice, Huckleberry."

"Maybe I like it that way," Lucas says. "Keeping you on edge makes everything more interesting."

"Is that so?" Maya smirks as she lets one of her hands wander beneath the hem of Lucas's shirt. Her nails trail up and down his skin and he barely contains the hiss of pleasure that tries to work itself free.

" _Guys_ ," Riley groans, breaking into whatever little world they have gotten lost in together. "I'm still standing right here and we're in _public_."

"I'm not doing anything," Maya plays innocent as her fingers dip even lower, skimming the waistband of Lucas's jeans.

"I'm out," Riley throws her hands up into the air, a sign of defeat that has come to mark her departure on many occasions when they've gone out all together. She tolerates their couple-ness on every spectrum from cute to inappropriate for as long as possible before she leaves to socialize elsewhere. This time she follows it by looking Lucas directly in the eyes and adding, "Think about what I told you."

Riley has a thing for dramatic exits and this is one of her best, because it looks like she's just walking away, but she just pulled the pin and left her words to detonate in her wake.

Once Riley is gone, Maya withdraws her hand from Lucas's shirt and uses it to turn his face toward hers. When his eyes are locked on hers, she asks the question Riley forced onto her lips, "What did she tell you?"

Lucas knows there is no use in lying or trying to avoid the question. This girl has been able to see through him since before they even knew each other and she has always managed to get exactly what she wants out of him one way or another. Some people might find that lack of control intolerable, but the fact that she has that kind of power over him is something that he loves about their relationship. He has already had a girlfriend that barely saw him. He never wants that again. Maya is the most genuine and open part of his life. He doesn't want to ever jeopardize that, so he always chooses honesty and she does the same for him.

"She said that you're going to fall in love with me," Lucas admits.

"That's what she told you?" Maya says.

Lucas nods.

"And you're not running for the hills?" Maya says. There's something shining in her eyes that he can't identify. It's something akin to worry, maybe it looks like fear, but he's never seen her let her fear show through.

"I'm not going anywhere," Lucas reassures her with complete confidence in what he's saying. Maya smiles at him and there's something heart wrenching about how sincere It is that he has to continue, "Where would I go anyway? I'll never be able to forget you. I'll never be able to escape the hold you have on me. I'll never be able to get you out of my head. I'd never want to either. So, there's no place on Earth I'd rather be than right here."

"She's wrong, you know," Maya says.

"Who?"

"Riley," Maya answers. "What she told you isn't true."

Lucas sucks in a breath and flashes back to the smirking blonde who told him that love bites so many months ago. She has changed his world, but maybe he is wrong to think that he changed hers.

"I can't fall in love with you," Maya says and Lucas's mind fills in a hundred different reasons why in the span of a couple seconds, but not once does he come up with the one that leaves her lips, "because I'm already in love with you."

Lucas sucks in another long breath, but this time it's so when he kisses her now, he can make it last. With no one to interrupt them, he puts everything he was into this one kiss. Here, right here—this is where it's all been leading since that very first kiss. He knows that Maya earned her place in his life that first night when she kissed him. He hopes that maybe this one will seal his place in hers, if he hasn't earned it already. His fingers curl into her hair and dance across her back. She locks her arms around his neck and holds herself up that way as the rest of her melts into him. They've been doing this for months and it has yet to lose its novelty. Each kiss, every soft touch of fingertips, each embrace, every tempting graze of teeth or stroke of tongue—it all feels like an innovation, because it seems entirely impossible that anyone has ever felt this kind of exquisite, agonizing, intense pleasure from a single kiss. Yet, it's how it feels every time for them. Perhaps that's why they've fallen for each other so completely, so quickly. They breathe life into each other, where everyone else had stolen it away.

Lucas pulls away, his breaths coming in short puffs against Mayas' lips. His lungs are begging for air, but still he forces the words out in a raspy rush. "I'm already in love with you too, by the way."

Maya smirks at him. His mama was right to say a smirk like that is dangerous, because he knows that he will do absolutely anything for the girl behind it. Even if it means the end of him, he'll do it. That's a scary thing to realize, but it's also the most comforting—and he thinks that's love. It's terrifying, but worth every second.

"One of these days, we're going to take a step in our relationship that's not facilitated by Riley," Maya says.

"That's an admirable dream," Lucas says with a soft laugh. "But she has this funny way of knowing how we feel before we do."

"Do you think she knows what I'm feeling right this second?" Maya raises an eyebrow as she slowly punctuates each word.

Lucas's whole body warms as she runs her nails down the back of his neck. "I don't know, but I think _I_ have some idea of what might be going through your head right now."

Maya bites her lip and backs out of his arms. She lets her fingers stroke along his jawline and then brush across his slightly parted lips as she goes. She turns and starts to walk away, only to glance back over her shoulder and curl a finger in a come hither gesture. "Well, come on."

Lucas grins and takes a few strides to join her, lacing his hand with the one she offers him. He'll follow her lead anywhere, even if that's insanity. She has ingrained herself into every part of him too thoroughly to care. Still, they have the advantage of being able to stumble into this with their eyes wide open. They both know all the ways this could go wrong. They've seen what failure looks like. They choose to take that risk, because if they're ever going to see all the ways it could go right, they want to see it together. And so far, right is all it's been. There will be no ritual if they ever break up, because Lucas knows that if he can't make this thing with Maya work, then he doesn't deserve another chance. If he can make it work, then they'll both get what's been missing from their lives: a love that is everything they deserve and more. It's passionate, and a little obsessive. It's about pleasure and joy. It's a love that doesn't bite, unless they want it to. The best part is, that it's only just begun.

-fin-


End file.
